Lament
by Relatively Unknown
Summary: A short vignette on Naruto after the "Rescue Sasuke" mission. Naruto just lets it all go....


A/N: Random mental image plus some late hard reading. Just a little vignette, it's not  
supposed to be anything great or special.  
  
-----  
  
Naruto stood atop the Hokage Tower. It was the highest point in the village, right there, in  
the center of it all. Once upon a time, he, too, wanted to be in the center of it all. Now he  
was, and all he longed for was the safety of the shadows.  
  
They had lost him. Sasuke. They hadn't been able to retrieve him, and, as a final blow, he  
had willingly gone back to Orochimaru, knowing full well what the snake had planned for  
him. It angered most of the team that had been sent; they had suffered plenty as a result.  
Most. Not Naruto. He could only feel sadness and an irreparable despair.  
  
He had failed. He had failed his friends, his village, his country... but most of all, he had  
failed himself and his promise.  
  
And he had failed Sakura.  
  
And Sasuke.  
  
Team 7 would be no more... thanks to him.  
  
Months had passed since that mission, but every night he still came to the Tower. Every  
night he would make several small cuts on his arms, letting them bleed, before they  
inevitably healed before dawn. It was a small pain, but kept him here, aware, and most of  
all, it made him remember the pain he had inflicted upon his world.  
  
He had been blamed, of course, by most of the adults. At first, he had shrugged it off with  
his usual happy-go-lucky demeanor, but then he realized the truth in it all. He _was_ to  
blame. After that, he let the mask fall, and for the first time, showed the true face of  
Uzumaki Naruto to everyone.  
  
It had shocked many who knew him to the core; others said they had knew all along; and  
still others didn't care. He was the demon, the Kyuubi, and nothing would change that.  
Somedays, he agreed with them; others, he just didn't think about it.  
  
He wasn't sure what today had been, but he knew what tonight was. Tonight, it would  
end. Tonight, he would let it all out.  
  
Despite letting his mask crumble, he had still bottled all his emotions up within him. He  
just could not let those go... they were too primal, too primeval, to be let out into this  
world. And yet, tonight, he would do just that.  
  
No longer would he hold back.  
  
Instead of letting just a trickle through, like a sieve, he let it all go. He released the  
floodgates within him, and let it flow wildly and freely both inside and out.  
  
He was half way through the change when he began.  
  
He had already lost the ability to speak; his eyes were the slitted red that many feared; his  
nails become long, deadly claws; his fangs lengthening; his hair becoming wild and  
untamed.... During this change, he began.  
  
He reared his head back, and let out a lamented wail that echoed throughout the village.  
He didn't stop; he kept going, the notes soaring high and low, haunting in their sound and  
melody. He knew that everyone could hear him, and that only made him going so much  
further. He poured out every deep emotion within him into that long cry on the wind.  
  
He didn't stop, even after the transformation was complete. He didn't stop, even after  
several lights began flooding the village below him. And he didn't stop, even after he  
began hearing the ANBU approach. He didn't stop... until he could cry no more. Then,  
when he did, he simply jumped down to the village and slowly walk away into the forest.  
  
A true kitsune in the darkness.  
  
Naruto, the boy, would never been seen again. Tales would arise, however, about  
Konoha's mysterious kitsune protector, who appeared like an apparition and vanished  
like a ghost in the night.  
  
They would always say that the kitsune had the most sorrowful eyes they had ever seen.  
And that, every year on the anniversary of that first night, the lamenting wails of the ghost  
kitsune would echo throughout Konoha's borders.  
  
And there he remained.  
  
A true kitsune in the darkness.  
  
A/N: I honestly can't think of any, except, yes, Naruto did transform into a kitsune (fox). I  
leave his appearance up to your own imaginations... it's better that way. ::smile:: I hope  
you enjoyed this. Please review if you have the time. 


End file.
